Sergio concerned about negativity at Hearts

Heart of Midlothian manager Paulo Sergio admits he is worried about the off-field situation at the club and how it will affect his playersâ€™ performances.

Heart of Midlothian manager Paulo Sergio admits he is worried about the off-field situation at the club and how it will affect his playersâ€™ performances.

The Edinburgh outfit have been struggling to pay the wages of their players recently with just ÂŁ1000 of Novemberâ€™s salary hitting their bank accounts and with owner Vladimir Romanov still desperate to offload the club, things are looking grim at Tynecastle.

Sergio can see that such problems will have a negative effect on his squad which lost 1-0 at Celtic on the weekend.

"All this negativity around us is not good and it's not good for our heads too,â€ť he told Hearts TV.

"The players deserved better than what they got from the game (at Celtic).

"It's not difficult to motivate players in a moment like this to play Celtic, to play big games.

"I hope they're able to do the same against Dunfermline (this weekend). They're not one of the biggest in Scotland, but we should respect them the same and be very focused on this game.

"We need three points. I believe we deserve more than we are getting from the games."